1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hose clamp which clamps a hose connection part from the outside.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there have been known hose clamps which clamp hose connection parts using the a leverage principle. The hose clamp disclosed in Patent Document 1 is formed into a generally annular shape by overlapping both ends of an elongated thin steel sheet and having a lever integrally fixed to the overlapped portion. By pushing down the lever toward the outer periphery of the annular clamp body, the inner diameter of the clamp body is reduced by the leverage action and the hose inserted in the hose clamp is clamped. However, there is a problem in that since this hose clamp is formed by overlapping and curving a single thin steel sheet, a heavy load must be applied to push down the lever formed on the overlapped portion, resulting in poor workability. In addition, in order to prevent the lever from rising up after being pushed down, a fixture needs to be welded separately, resulting in an increase in production cost.
In order to solve the above problems, the hose clamp according to Patent Document 2 has been proposed. Since this hose clamp is integrally formed entirely of synthetic resin, it has advantages of requiring no separate fixture and being produced at a low cost. In addition, the portion that acts as a fulcrum when the operating piece is pushed down is thin-walled, and the operating piece can be pushed down with a low load. However, there are two steps to fix the hose clamp: hooking one end of the operating piece on the fixture, and pushing down the other end of the operating piece must be taken. As a result, it takes much time to fix the hose clamp.